Funeral customs.

Original Track ID

SA1964.18.A12

Original Tape ID

SA1964.018.019

Summary

Funeral customs.

When William Forbes was a boy wakes used to be held. A few men who were neighbours would come round and stay through the night with the body for two nights. The coffin was not carried for any distance, though Mr Forbes has seen coffins being carried from nearby to the churchyard at Dull. They used to be carried for miles. He has heard that where a coffin was laid down a cairn was made. He knows of no special coffin roads, but he knows that people carrying a coffin would never take a short cut. There was a meal after a funeral. Formerly only men went to funerals, but now [1964] women go too. Fighting was common at funerals of Travellers when the men had been drinking. There was always drinking at a funeral, but not to excess. Before the coffin was lifted after the service everyone was offered a dram and biscuits and cheese. This custom was kept up until a few years previously.

Mr Forbes gives the Gaelic terms for wake customs: taigh àir, taigh àirdse.

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

English

Genre

Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good